ARVADA — A low groan rippled through the congregation at Faith Bible Chapel as Pastor George Morrison told them that two of the young people gunned down on the church’s campus were dead.

“It is a sobering thing for this to happen so close to home, and so close to our community,” Morrison told several hundred people attending the regularly scheduled Sunday service.

Many of those in attendance had already heard about the shootings as he laid out the story from behind an acrylic pulpit. But the shocked response that greeted his announcement that “two of the kids passed away” made it plain that some were hearing of the deaths for the first time.

Less than 12 hours earlier, a man arrived at the door of Youth With a Mission, a missionary training facility across the road from the church in Arvada, and asked to spend the night in the dormitory. When Tiffany Johnson, a member of the staff, told him that wouldn’t be possible, he opened fire with a handgun, shooting Johnson and three other staff members. Johnson and Philip Crouse died during surgery.

“No joy this morning”

Youth With a Mission has leased property on the church campus for more than 20 years, and the youngsters who go there to learn about the missionary life are regulars at the church, Morrison said.

The choir had planned to kick off the service with “Joy to the World,” said Phil Waters, 64, a member of the church choir. “We couldn’t do it. There was no joy this morning.”

The choir substituted a song about bringing offerings to God, he said.

“We are really close to these kids,” Waters said. “They come over here to worship. It was tough to be out there (singing) and not have tears running down your face.”

Waters said he heard about the shooting at 2:35 a.m. when authorities used reverse 911 calls to alert nearby residents to the shooting and told them to lock their doors and be alert.

Grant Stegehuis, 16, learned of the incident when he awoke at about 9 a.m. and heard his father and sister talking about it, he said.

His father had also gotten the early call from authorities. His sister, Alaina, 17, had been babysitting the night before.

“My dad was really worried; the first thing he did was check her room,” Grant Stegehuis said.

“He came into her room and checked all the windows,” he said, noting that the girl was safely in bed.

Still worried

Some people at the church worried that the shooter, described by police as a thin, white man in his 20s, hadn’t been caught.

“It is scary because they don’t know where this person is,” said Debra Griego, 47, of Arvada.

Several of the congregants said they were still shaken by the shooting death in July of a woman working at a nearby Burger King.

“There is no way to provide security against people like that. You can’t live in an armed camp,” said Betty Crosslen, 70.

A general assignment reporter for The Denver Post, Tom McGhee has covered business, police, courts, higher education and breaking news. He came to The Post from Albuquerque, N.M., where he worked for a year and a half covering utilities. He began his journalism career in New York City, worked for a pair of community weeklies that covered the west side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 125th Street.

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